Viewpoint: Seed patent controversy — ‘Does intellectual property in agriculture really drive up costs for farmers and restrict access?’ Here are the numbers

| | March 19, 2024

Among the many misconceptions about modern agriculture, perhaps one of the most pervasive surrounds the role of intellectual property (IP) in plant breeding.

Viewpoint: The Europe’s anti-pesticide fearmongering continues to cripple African food security hopes

| | March 19, 2024

As farmers protest across Europe, blockading cities, smashing through police barricades, and dumping manure, European politicians are falling over themselves to promise increased trade barriers against African food and agriculture imports.

Insect Allies: Why the Pentagon’s plan to transmit plant viruses with gene edited insects to increase climate resilience is stirring such controversy

| | March 19, 2024
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Recent investigations have illuminated controversial projects by the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), specifically the “Insect Allies” program, which has raised alarm among leading biologists and researchers. This initiative aims to utilize insects to genetically modify crops in the field, a method that could potentially be weaponized, sparking fears of a new form of bio-warfare.

New Zealand considers deregulating crop gene editing, but public resistance and limited understanding of CRISPR limits acceptance

| | March 19, 2024
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The potential use of genetic technologies in New Zealand’s agriculture has been a political hot potato for 25 years. But the National Party released its ‘Harnessing Biotech Plan’ last year. This proposal indicates the Government would introduce dedicated legislation outlining the use of gene editing and GM, replacing the current Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act.

Parents’ Bill of Rights: Vaccine wars heat up in states allowing exemptions for schoolchildren

| | March 18, 2024
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Gayle Borne has fostered more than 300 children in Springfield, Tennessee. She’s cared for kids who have rarely seen a doctor — kids so neglected that they cannot speak. Such children are now even more vulnerable because of a law Tennessee passed last year that requires the direct consent of birth parents or legal guardians for every routine childhood vaccination. Foster parents, social workers, and other caregivers cannot provide permission.

CRISPR gene editing applications are expanding dramatically in agriculture. Here are the latest advances

| | March 18, 2024
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In the past decade, after the release of CRISPR-Cas9 as a genome-editing tool, it has revolutionized biological research. CRISPR and its applications have changed how biological research is done. A review by Nobel Laureate and CRISPR pioneer Jennifer A. Doudna of the Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California, Berkeley, and Joy Y. Wang, also from UC Berkeley, explores the origins, applications, and limitations of this technology. They discuss advancements, future directions, and real-world examples of CRISPR’s impact on medicine and agriculture, highlighting its potential to shape various aspects of society.

Switzerland green lights field tests on CRISPR yield-enhanced barley

| March 18, 2024
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Agroscope has been granted approval by the Federal Office for the Environment for a field trial with spring barley. The focus is on a barley gene that has been disabled by new breeding techniques. The trial, which will be launched in spring 2024 on the Protected Site in Zurich-Reckenholz and will run for three years, aims to determine whether yields can be increased in this manner.

Food security challenged Pakistan reevaluating benefits of currently-banned GMO crops

| | March 18, 2024
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For the last two decades, Pakistan has faced several challenges, such as drought, salinity, temperature, climate change, and an increasing population, causing food security issues to rise. The use of biotechnological approaches in agriculture to fulfill the desired need is one of the solutions. Still, the public is reluctant to use GM crops due to several reasons, including cultural aspects and traditional values.

Viewpoint: The Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen” list is a danger to public health put out by an organic industry funded activist group

| | March 15, 2024
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The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is an anti-science activist organization.

Viewpoint: ‘Heavy’ pesticide exposure linked to cardiovascular disease? Flawed study raises ‘troubling’ questions about public health research

| | March 15, 2024
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What do the results really show?

Hairy questions: As scientists edge closer to resurrecting mammoths, a host of ethical and scientific issues arise

| | March 15, 2024
Hairy questions: As scientists edge closer to resurrecting mammoths, a host of ethical and scientific issues arise

Colossal Biosciences, a biotechnology company based in Dallas, announced [March 6] that it has produced a line of Asian elephant stem cells that can be coaxed to transform into other types of cells needed to reconstruct the extinct giant — or at a least a mammoth-like elephant designed to thrive in the cold.

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